Lectioanry resoruces Easter Day Year A

Lectionary -- Easter Day -- Year A

Acts 10:34-43 Peter's message about the death and resurrection of Jesus
or Jeremiah 31:1-6 The time of rejoicing will come
Psalm 118:1-2,14-24 This is the day the Lord has made
Colossians 3:1-4 ... If you were raised with Christ ...
John 20:1-18 The Resurrection: Mary Magdalene meets Jesus
or Matthew 28:1-10 Jesus meets with his disciples

Easter Day Evening
Isaiah 25:6-9 He will destroy the shroud that is cast over all peoples
Psalm 114 The mountains skipped like rams
1 Cor 5:6b-8 Christ has been sacrificed ... let us celebrate the festival
Luke 24:13-49 Jesus meet two disciples on the road to Emmaus

Possible Hymns
Be present now dear risen Lord
A man there lived in Galilee AHB 176
Were you there when they crucified my Lord [verses 1 and 6] TIS 345, AHB 261
Jesus Christ is risen today TIS 362, AHB 280
Christ the Lord is risen today TIS 370, AHB 290
Hail thou once despised Jesus TIS 373, AHB 295
Come, let us with our Lord arise TIS 375, AHB 297
I know that my redeemer lives TIS 376, AHB 299
This joyful Eastertide TIS 381, AHB 302
Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son TIS 380, AHB 303
Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest TIS 524, AHB 442
Christians, let us all rejoice, glory give to our beloved SA 22
In great thanksgiving TIS 632, SA 49

Sermon summary - Easter Day Year A |click here for complete sermon|

Jesus said to her, "Mary!"

Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). [John 20:16]. Mary, the first witness to the resurrection, is a model for confessing Christians. She confessed him as Lord and she knew in her heart that God had raised him from the dead. [compare Romans 10:9]. Her meeting with him is at one and the same time both a very personal encounter and also a meeting in which she shares with others. The personal emphasis is clear in the way she recognised him when he called her name, "Mary". The shepherd knows his flock one by one: [John 10:3b,11,14]. Yet the first thing she did was to include others [John 20:17-18]. She forms a precious link between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith, between the material and the spiritual, which we share in the holy communion.

The Easter Candle
The Uniting Church, in common with other churches in recent years, has revived some ancient symbols. The Easter or Paschal candle is a symbol with a liturgy in the Western Church that can be traced back at least to the seventh century. It signifies the resurrection and is lit for services throughout the Easter season until Pentecost, and again whenever there is a baptism when the candidate's candle is traditionally lit from it to remind us of the connection between baptism and the resurrection faith, baptism being a sign of dying to an old life and rising to a new life with Christ. In some churches the Paschal candle is lit for funerals to signify new life in Christ after death, and in some places it is also lit on other occasions when the Eucharist is celebrated.

The Easter Banner (as at Templestowe Uniting Church)
A butterfly emerging from a chrysalis is a traditional symbol of the resurrection. In our banner today we see the splendid creature in flight over the world leaving behind the signs of death and the old life from which it has come. This new life is now let loose in the world and ascends above the world.

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Order of Service - Easter Day Year A

The Gathering of the People of God

CALL TO WORSHIP
The Lord in risen.
He is risen indeed!
This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. -- Psalm 118:23-24

HYMN 280 Jesus Christ is risen today

PRAYER OF ADORATION

CONFESSION [In three parts, concluding ...]
Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy. Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.

DECLARATION OF FORGIVENESS
Through Christ, God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. -- Colossians 1:20
The victory of our Lord over sin and death is available to us through faith. Sin has power no longer over those who belong to him. Your sins are forgiven.
Thanks be to God.

A CANTICLE FOR EASTER [and lighting the Easter candle]
Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you! Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice, O holy church! Exult in glory!
The risen Saviour shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy, echoing the mighty song of all God's people.
It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is our passover feast, when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.
This is the day when Christians everywhere
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.
This is the day when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death,
and rose triumphant from the grave.
Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom slaves, you gave away your Son!
Day truly blessed, when heaven is wedded to earth,
and we are reconciled to God!
Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this day,
receive our sacrifice of praise,
your church's solemn offering.
Accept this Easter candle.
May Christ dispel the darkness of our night!
May the Morning Star which never sets find the flame of our love always burning.
May Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead,
shed his peaceful light on all the world.

[Canticle from Uniting in Worship, Adapted from the Liturgy of the Easter Vigil, Roman Catholic Church.]

Service of the Word

INTRODUCTION OF THEME: A word to the children.

FIRST READING Acts 10:34-43 Peter's message about the resurrection of Jesus
PSALM 118:1-2,14-24 This is the day the Lord has made
EPISTLE Colossians 3:1-4 ... If you were raised with Christ ...
GOSPEL John 20:1-18 The Resurrection: Mary Magdalene meets Jesus

HYMN 261 Were you there when they crucified my Lord [verses 1 and 6]

SERMON
NICENE CREED

OFFERING
SHARING TIME [Notices, Celebrations and requests for intercessions]
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE [Including commemoration of the faithful departed]
THE COLLECT FOR EASTER DAY
O God, you gave your only Son to suffer death on the cross for our redemption, and by his glorious resurrection you delivered us from the power of death. May we die every day to sin, so that we may live with him for ever in the joy of the resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The Lord's Supper

THE PEACE

HYMN 442 Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest

GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Thanks and praise .....
[For Easter:
The tree of life in the midst of the garden
was the tree of our defeat.
Christ was lifted up on the tree of victory;
and where life was lost,
there life has been restored.
And so we praise you ....
in the eternal hymn: [SA 100c and 100d]
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

We thank you ....
[The great prayer of thanksgiving, recalling God's goodness in caring for his people, the life and saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ, how he commanded his disciples to remember him with the bread and the wine, and we pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit on us and what we do.]

THE LORD'S PRAYER
BREAKING THE BREAD
THE LAMB OF GOD [Sing Alleluia 100e]
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world,
grant us peace.

COMMUNION
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

The Sending Forth of the People of God

HYMN 303 Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son

WORD OF MISSION
BLESSING
DISMISSAL
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord:
In the name of Christ. Amen.

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